Raps V. Nuggets - Preseason - Mon, Oct 6th, 2025 - 10PM EST

[YoungG]

Where exactly do you want the shots for IQ and Scottie to come from?

We brought in Ingram as first option. If we’re going to give RJ his usage, there won’t be shots for IQ and Scottie.

Thank God I'm not the coach lol. I think there is a balance that they'll figure out. I'm sure they'll use the pre-season to try things and see what makes sense. For the sake of playing devil's advocate, how successful do you think this team can be if Scottie and IQ are taking 12 shots combined in 20 minutes? I hope my question doesn't come across facetious, just curious and want to start a conversation.

The talk so far has been about a starting unit (with the standard 5), and a bench unit with Mamu, CMB, Dick, Ochai & Shead, and doing the hockey shifts kind of thing.

I think what they will come to realize is their starters won’t be able to play heavy minutes together, because as a unit they don’t maximize each other’s play.

So I expect to see more mixing of lineups eventually, with starters mixed with bench players, where the bench players skill sets compliment the starters in the game.

That's fair, and I agree. I do remember hearing that concept recently. One thing I was positively surprised about in the starting line up is how B.I. and R.J. play off of one another. It is only one pre-season game, but for all of the opinions about it not working, it didn't look terrible to me. Regardless, I'm looking forward to game 2.

[Anticon]

Expect Scottie will recover and that will be his worst game.

But it was remarkable to see a $50 million player perform on offense like that.

[YoungG]

Watch on YouTube

[LoveMyRaps]

Watch on YouTube

I think RJ is gonna breakout this season.

Hot take: He shoots over 37% from behind the arc on over 4 attempts per game.

[WWSRD]

What do you guys think? It's 1 preseason game but it was pretty apparent:

- Team's not good enough to not play Mamu heavy (30+) minutes, and in no way can he defend at the 5.

- Ingram's still got it and the ball should start and end in his hands. He's clearly your primary hub.

- RJ looks like your 2nd best player. He's come in sharp. Trade him? I don't think so.

- Scottie is still on his same bull$hit. No three. Hurts hand. Low efficiency.

- IQ is not that good and lacks the in-between game to scare you at PG. I could see Shead pushing him hard for minutes.

- Gradey's not going to get there.

- CMB is basically what was promised. Super disruptive defender. Looks un-usually strong. No range yet. Develop him off your bench and feed him all the backup minutes at the 3/4

This team needs to turn Scottie and IQ into an all-star PG. Go get Garland, Young or Ball.

New PG
RJ
Ingram
Mamu
Poetl

[MEDIC]

Barnes might play like a championship or winning player and have great passing instincts, but he doesn't have the attitude of one. This guy isn't the type to be leading a team he needs to stop complaining to the refs. Even casuals recognize his constant complaining.

He gets emotional and then makes reckless plays. He could have easily fouled out this game but the refs let him play for "entertainment" purposes. That was extremely obvious..

This has been the case since day one. Scottie has always been immature emotionally.

A big red flag for me was his rookie year when Fred and Pascal were butting heads with him. These guys are two respected veterans who had won a championship in the NBA & had earned everythiing through hard work and focus. If you are a young player & you can't follow the lead of two guys like that, there is a problem.

Management chose to side with Scottie, which I thought was a huge mistake. It undermined the culture of hard work & professionalism that the Raptors had worked so hard to build. It was the wrong message to Scottie and the wrong message to the team.

I think the only reason management supported Scottie was because they were desperate for a youth movement at the time. I still think it was a huge mistake though.

You can see that Scottie has been babied & treated like a child rather than a young man that has to grow up.

It will be telling to see what Bobby does with this roster. I am sure there are things that Masai has done that Bobby didn't agree with. He will be hell bent on changing those things.

[DreamTeam09]

Barnes might play like a championship or winning player and have great passing instincts, but he doesn't have the attitude of one. This guy isn't the type to be leading a team he needs to stop complaining to the refs. Even casuals recognize his constant complaining.

He gets emotional and then makes reckless plays. He could have easily fouled out this game but the refs let him play for "entertainment" purposes. That was extremely obvious..

This has been the case since day one. Scottie has always been immature emotionally.

A big red flag for me was his rookie year when Fred and Pascal were butting heads with him. These guys are two respected veterans who had won a championship in the NBA & had earned everythiing through hard work and focus. If you are a young player & you can't follow the lead of two guys like that, there is a problem.

Management chose to side with Scottie, which I thought was a huge mistake. It undermined the culture of hard work & professionalism that the Raptors had worked so hard to build. It was the wrong message to Scottie and the wrong message to the team.

I think the only reason management supported Scottie was because they were desperate for a youth movement at the time. I still think it was a huge mistake though.

You can see that Scottie has been babied & treated like a child rather than a young man that has to grow up.

It will be telling to see what Bobby does with this roster. I am sure there are things that Masai has done that Bobby didn't agree with. He will be hell bent on changing those things.

you guys try and use any evidence possible to try and cultivate w/e narrative that needs to be substantiated. Then use personal critiques and come up unsubstantiated reasons as to why the way things are the way they are.
Can you name me the "the team leader that isn't known as a whiner to the refs?

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Yup, that looks like what I expected. Scottie looks like the fifth best player on the floor.

[LoveMyRaps]

Ochai was a team best +10 yesterday

He should be our 6th man and needs to play a lot more minutes.

[MEDIC]

you guys try and use any evidence possible to try and cultivate w/e narrative that needs to be substantiated. Then use personal critiques and come up unsubstantiated reasons as to why the way things are the way they are.
Can you name me the "the team leader that isn't known as a whiner to the refs?

Some.players can complain to the refs, but still maintain focus & lead a team. Some get too emotional & lose focus.

Scorties temperment has always been the former. There is something about him that has reminded me of Demarcus Cousins (without the anger).

I just call it like.I see it. Some people have good emotional regulation. Some don't.

I like Scottie. I loved the way he played in the 2nd half of last season. He needs to get back to that. He is not a leader though. Leaders stay calm in the face of adversity. Scottie is more like the "good vibes" guy who keeps the lockerroom light.

He is emotional & hasn't figured out how to channel his emotions in the right way. I think KG would be a great mentor for him.

I do think Scottie will figure things out, but we may not see it until he is 25+ years old. Very similar to the challenges Kyle went through.

[ATLTimekeeper]

you guys try and use any evidence possible to try and cultivate w/e narrative that needs to be substantiated. Then use personal critiques and come up unsubstantiated reasons as to why the way things are the way they are.
Can you name me the "the team leader that isn't known as a whiner to the refs?

Some.players can complain to the refs, but still maintain focus & lead a team. Some get too emotional & lose focus.

Scorties temperment has always been the former. There is something about him that has reminded me of Demarcus Cousins (without the anger).

I just call it like.I see it. Some people have good emotional regulation. Some don't.

I like Scottie. I loved the way he played in the 2nd half of last season. He needs to get back to that. He is not a leader though. Leaders stay calm in the face of adversity. Scottie is more like the "good vibes" guy who keeps the lockerroom light.

He's played one pre-season game since

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

If the starting five stays the same, he's going to be deferring a lot. He's the least offensively skilled player in the lot.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Watch on YouTube

I think RJ is gonna breakout this season.

Hot take: He shoots over 37% from behind the arc on over 4 attempts per game.

It’s the awful FT shooting that’s the problem. He is probably our best guy to get to the line but he shoots FTs like a centre

[GLF]

Watch on YouTube

I think RJ is gonna breakout this season.

Hot take: He shoots over 37% from behind the arc on over 4 attempts per game.

This actually isn’t that much of a hot take because he’s been about a 37% catch and shoot 3 point shooter for a couple seasons now. With BI and IQ here he should be able to mostly just take catch and shoot 3s, and if he does that, 37% or just slightly below should be expected. RJ’s 3 point shooting issues were always overblown in my opinion. He’s a terrible and I mean terrible off the dribble 3 point shooter and he had to do a lot more of that last season. But catch and shoot he’s fine.

[MEDIC]

Walter, Ochai, and even Battle deserve minutes over Dick in my opinion.

I was thinking to myself "if the Raps were to start a playoff series tomorrow, who would I want to play off the bench at the 2 & 3 positions"?

My bench depth chart would probably look like this:

1. Ochai
2. Walter
3. Lawson
4. Battle
5. Dick
6. Martn

That's where things are at.

[ItsDanger]

A proactive GM would have traded Dick already.

A reactive GM waits until his trade value tanks.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

A proactive GM would have traded Dick already.

A reactive GM waits until his trade value tanks.

We made this problem when we traded for BI.

[Pointgod]

So it looks like this team is going to struggle to shoot. 10-42 from 3. 18-27 from the free throw line is not going to cut it. Who would think completely ignoring shooting would lead to poor shooting?

[MEDIC]

you guys try and use any evidence possible to try and cultivate w/e narrative that needs to be substantiated. Then use personal critiques and come up unsubstantiated reasons as to why the way things are the way they are.
Can you name me the "the team leader that isn't known as a whiner to the refs?

Some.players can complain to the refs, but still maintain focus & lead a team. Some get too emotional & lose focus.

Scorties temperment has always been the former. There is something about him that has reminded me of Demarcus Cousins (without the anger).

I just call it like.I see it. Some people have good emotional regulation. Some don't.

I like Scottie. I loved the way he played in the 2nd half of last season. He needs to get back to that. He is not a leader though. Leaders stay calm in the face of adversity. Scottie is more like the "good vibes" guy who keeps the lockerroom light.

He's played one pre-season game since

Not basing it on 1 preseason game. It was the best version of Scottie I have seen & I have seen several versions since Scottie has been here. You really don't know which one is going to show up.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

We're getting the version of Scottie who has a reduced roll from last year.